Monday, December 03, 2012

Germany Shines a Light on the Harp of Darkness

When it came right down to it, Germany balked at voting "no" on Palestinian recognition in the UN General Assembly and, instead, merely abstained. Netanyahu was not amused.

What transpired between Angie Merkel and Benny Netanyahu may shed some useful light on how Israel interacts with allies, like Canada, expecting them to do its bidding.

It was one of the most unpleasant conversations that Christoph
Heusgen had ever been required to have with Jaakov Amidror. On Wednesday
evening, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's foreign policy adviser told
his Israeli counterpart that Germany would abstain in the following
day's vote at the United Nations General Assembly on whether to grant
the Palestinians the status of a "non-member observer state." Merkel's
government had just decided, he said.

Amidror made it clear what he thought about the Germans' decision.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government had been expecting Berlin
to show its customary support for Israel by voting "no." The Israelis
viewed [the German] announcement as an affront.

Germany's stance on this issue shows just how deeply frustrated its government is with the Netanyahu government's policies. The UN vote
was a defeat for Israel. In the end, 138 of the 193 UN member states
supported the Palestinians' petition, including France and 13 other
European Union member states. Germany's abstention weighed particularly
heavy because it meant that Canada and the United States were the only
major Western nations to vote on Israeli's side.

...In mid-November, Merkel was still of the opinion in internal
deliberations that the Palestinians should be prevented from taking
unilateral steps. Indeed, this was the reason her government cited when
justifying its vote against the Palestinians' bid to become a full
member of UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural organization, in late
October 2011.

But in the end, the Israeli government's tactical maneuvering
prompted Merkel to back away from this hard line. When it became
apparent that a series of EU member states would support the
Palestinians' bid for observer-state status, the Israelis asked Germany
to push all of its fellow EU states to abstain. Up until that point,
Netanyahu had pressured Merkel's government to gather as many "no" votes
as possible within the EU.

[As the vote neared] the question was how the Germans should act. From the
Israeli perspective, the answer was clear: Berlin would simply vote
"no." But German officials had a different take on things. Merkel was
upset that the Israelis were treating Germany's vote like a bargaining
chip.

The chancellor was particularly annoyed because Netanyahu had shown
himself completely unwilling to make concessions. On several occasions,
Merkel had urged him to at least make a gesture on the issue of settlement construction
in order to send out a signal to the Palestinians. Doing so would have
made it easier for Merkel to campaign for the Israeli position. But
Netanyahu stubbornly ignored her wish.

6 comments:

Netanyahu must have tried guilt-trip on Merkel – it is Western guilt which resulted in the creation of Israel. Before that Jews, Christians and Muslims lived together for centuries without much problems. It is the creation of Israel which started this unending fiasco.

Can't remember now where I read the story on Israel's nuclear subs that Germany built for them. Basically the Israeli's guilted the Germans into not only supplying them, but also a financing arrangement that pretty much ends up with the Subs being a gift.